


A Safety Pin and A Ballpoint Pen

by gh0sthunt



Series: BMC x TFB [2]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Bad Decisions, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Don't Try This At Home, Gen, Inspired by Music, Light-Hearted, Mention of blood, Pre-Canon, Pre-Squip, Reckless teens, Tattoos, no beta we die like men, stick and pokes, their parents are kinda mentioned but they never really show up so i'm not tagging it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 18:52:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13277757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gh0sthunt/pseuds/gh0sthunt
Summary: The origin of the Pac-Man tattoo.





	A Safety Pin and A Ballpoint Pen

**Author's Note:**

> I've never actually given myself a tattoo, nor do I advise that you do, especially not like these boys do. Literally everything you look up on the internet about stick and pokes will tell you not to, but for the sake of sticking to the song, these boys are reckless as hell (mostly Michael).
> 
> Title from Backflip by The Front Bottoms

"We should get a tattoo," Michael said one afternoon at the beginning of the summer between sophomore and junior year. He was hanging upside-down off Jeremy's bed, watching as Jeremy played Super Mario World.

Jeremy, sitting on one of the beanbags directly in front of the television, laughed. "You're high," he mumbled.

"Yes, but that's not the point."

"Okay, how would we get a tattoo, then?" Jeremy asked, willing to entertain the idea.

"Can't our parents, like, sign off on it or something?" Michael asked.

Jeremy swore under his breath as Mario died onscreen. "Do you seriously think your parents would?" Jeremy's dad, of course, was out of the question. He would likely try to be a responsible parent and then cave in after some convincing.

Michael sat up, blinking away the spots in his vision as all the blood rushed away from his head. He sighed dejectedly as he made a motion for Jeremy to hand over the controller, moving to sit cross-legged at the edge of the bed. "Yeah, you're right."

The pair went silent for a few moments, both entranced by the television screen as Michael attempted to complete the level that they had been stuck on.

As Mario once again faced his death through a conveniently placed pitfall, Michael broke his concentration to continue the conversation. "What about getting fake IDs?"

"Those are, like, crazy expensive, dude," Jeremy noted.

"Yeah, you're right," Michael sighed. "Stick and pokes, then?"

"What?" Jeremy looked at Michael with confusion, taking the controller back.

"Y'know, the kind you do at home?"

"Is that even safe?" Jeremy asked incredulously.

"Yeah!" Michael paused briefly. "At least I think so. There's entire communities and stuff for it online."

Jeremy put his focus back on the screen, unconvinced. "What would we even get a tattoo of?"

Michael hummed in thought, watching Jeremy's gameplay intently before finally speaking up. "Pac-Man."

"Huh?" Jeremy's surprise caused the little plumber in red to die again.

"We could get a tattoo of Pac-Man."

"Why?" he asked as Michael took over.

"Well, we like retro games, so if we're going to get a matching tattoo, it should symbolize a common interest of ours," Michael explained. "But not many people get references, so they'd ask about it all the time if it was something obscure. That might get annoying." He narrowly avoided killing Mario again. "Plus, if we're doing it ourselves then it should be simple." The victory theme resounded as the castle's flag raised high on the screen.

With the level complete, they let the game idle for a moment.

Jeremy thought it over. It wasn't like they hadn't suggested getting a tattoo together before, but all those times had been referring to when they were older and legal to get one for themselves. It would be cool to be one of the first in school to have a tattoo, but that still wouldn't change anything about their social statuses. Altogether, the idea wasn't that unappealing, but he was worried about one thing in particular.

"What if we get ink poisoning or something?" he asked, still unsure about the safety of it. 

"We'll just do research and make sure everything's sterile," Michael answered easily.

With confidence like that, how could Jeremy doubt that Michael knew what he was doing? Actually, no, to say he didn't have doubts would be false. That would just be careless. Jeremy simply pushed his doubts aside because, in the end, he trusted Michael and they had been through a lot together. 

So, a week later, they had everything ready. They had bought a cheap pack of ballpoint pens and anything needed for aftercare from the local Wal-Mart. At Michael's house, they mixed up a bleach and water solution. On the way down to the basement, they grabbed a roll of paper towels, safety pins, a spool of thread, and two small bowls.

"Okay, so first," Michael began, reading off an article on his computer after they washed their hands, "We need to disinfect the area with this, and then lay down some paper towels." He shook the bottle of solution.

They cleared off the desk, and cleaned it with the solution before setting out everything.

"Now we gotta break open the pens. We can't share ink, so we'll only break open half the pack to start with." 

The process of snapping the pens and getting the ink out was tedious, but with both of them breaking the pens at a consistent speed, they finished in about ten minutes, and had filled one of the bowls with black ink.

"So, who's going first?" Michael asked, looking up at Jeremy from the computer.

"I'll do yours first since this was your idea," Jeremy responded. He was still hesitant about all this, but if Michael went first then that would reassure him. After all, it couldn't be that bad, right?

Michael agreed, and went into the adjoining bathroom to disinfect the area on his arm. "We should draw it on my arm now," Michael said as he returned.

They sat on the two chairs in front of Michael's desk while Jeremy drew Pac-Man onto Michael's left arm. He triple-checked his drawing, making sure that everything was perfect before they moved on.

The last step was to prepare the safety pin. Jeremy wrapped thread around it several times, leaving less than a quarter of an inch exposed at the end. This was precautionary, so that it wouldn't go too far into the skin, the website explained. Finally, Jeremy went to wash his hands once more while Michael pulled a lighter from his desk drawer. He held the flame to the tip of the pin until it glowed red.

Jeremy took the safety pin from Michael when he returned. After it cooled, he dipped it in the ink. "You ready?" he asked, looking up at Michael.

Michael nodded with determination written on his face. He hissed slightly as Jeremy began, earning a concerned look. "I'm fine," Michael assured him.

Jeremy nodded, then looked back down at Michael's extended arm. His brows furrowed in concentration as he began poking tiny holes in the stencil he had drawn out. The process was slow. He repeatedly had to wipe away excess ink - and, at times, blood. By the time that it appeared finished, Michael's forearm was red and swollen.

Despite this, Michael had an awed look on his face. A grin split his features as he looked up at Jeremy with excitement. "Dude, this looks so cool!" 

Jeremy couldn't help but mirror his expression. "Doesn't it hurt, though?" he asked. It certainly looked painful.

"It kinda feels like a cat scratch and a sunburn at the same time, but it's not that bad. I got used to it after the first, like, twenty pokes," Michael answered with a shrug. "You look kinda scared, still," he observed. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I completely understand if you don't."

Jeremy shook his head. "No, I totally do. We're gonna look so cool when we go back to school." He offered a reassuring smile. Seeing how excited Michael was encouraged him to go through with it.

They disposed of the safety pin and ink used on Michael, then began preparing everything again. Jeremy drew the stencil on his own arm so that it remained consistent.

When it was all said and done, a good few hours had passed. Jeremy's skin looked more red than Michael's due to his skin being paler, and Michael's arm had had a while to return to its normal color.

As they were cleaning up after themselves, Jeremy suddenly swore quietly.

"What's up?" Michael asked, eyebrows raised.

"How are we going to hide these from our parents?" 

Michael paused what he was doing when he saw the genuine worry on Jeremy's face. "Hey, it'll be okay," he assured his friend. "Your dad isn't that strict. He'll probably ground you for, like, a week so you won't be able to come over, but that's no big deal. I'll just wear my hoodie like I always do."

Jeremy nodded, taking a deep breath to quell the panic that had started to rise. Michael was right. His dad sometimes even _encouraged_ him to do rebellious things like a normal, not socially outcast teenager would do. He also hadn't seen Michael take off his favorite red hoodie more than a dozen times in the past year. His parents wouldn't suspect a thing if he wore it even in the summer.

Michael finished reading the page after they had cleaned up. "It says we'll probably need to touch them up every few days after the swelling goes down. Other than that, we care for them like a regular tattoo," he informed Jeremy.

Jeremy's dad had ended up scolding him, but he was so surprised Jeremy was capable of being rebellious that he didn't punish him. He claimed that the tattoo was reasonable for someone his age, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but he did worry about having to rush his son to the hospital. Thankfully, that never happened.

It was a wonder how neither of them got sick, really. Jeremy called Michael a few days later, freaking out after he had found out that pen ink could be toxic, but Michael eventually convinced him that it would be okay.

As for Michael's parents, they never found out, as expected. It was a secret that he would likely take to his grave, or at least keep until he was eighteen.

Unfortunately, the tattoos started to fade by the time they started school in the fall, but the boys still found themselves grinning at the memory, months later, every time they saw the tattoos in the mirror.

**Author's Note:**

> I literally have no idea how to write Jeremy's dad lol


End file.
